Different, Yet The Same
by Spirits and Shadows
Summary: This is for the Warriors Challenge Forum and the Medicine Cat Hopes Challenge that was posted by Reach For Me. My first fic for Warriors, no flames please! I don't own Warrior Cats.


**Clan Allegiances**

**ThunderClan**

**Leader:** Lilystar- white she-cat with bright blue eyes.

**Deputy: **Sunstorm- golden tabby tom with black stripes

**Medicine Cat:** Roseclaw- pinkish-grey she-cat with long claws

**Warriors: **Jaywing - gray tabby tom with green eyes

Emberfall- brilliantly ginger she-cat with green eyes

Thunderflash- huge golden tabby tom

Redstorm- red-brown tabby tom with dark blue

**Queens: ** Owlclaw- light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Goldenleaf- pale ginger she-cat, expecting Sunstorm's kits

**Kits:** Leafkit- brown tabby she-kit with a white chest

Stonekit - solid gray tom with amber eyes

Patchkit - ginger and white she-kit with blue eyes

**ShadowClan**

**Leader: **Eaglestar- dark brown tabby tom

**Deputy:** Pinefrost- white she-cat with dark green eyes

**Medicine Cat:** Poppystone- white, black and gold calico she-cat

_Apprentice: Snowpaw_

**Warriors:** Weaselheart- Brown tom with a white belly

Beetlefur- tom with unusually glossy black fur

**This is my first Warriors fanfic. Yes, I only listed two Clans in the allegiances, the reason being that only two are ever mentioned or come in. :D Enjoy! (for those out there who are seriously affected by dramatic turns of events, be on your guard)**

Leafkit had always wanted to be a medicine cat. She had often been told she would be good at it. She had never forgotten anything. She knew who her mother was.

And she also knew her father was not of her Clan.

But she hadn't let this cloud her hopes. She never would.

So when the day of her apprenticeship came, she was very excited. She had a gut feeling she would be a medicine cat. She just knew it.

Leafkit wriggled from her mothers searching tongue. "Mom, I look fine!"

The said mother, Owlclaw, pulled her back. "Hold still, Leafkit! You want to look nice, don't you?"

Patchkit looked up. "Really, Mom? She looks perfectly fine... for a dunce."

Stonekit reached over and pounced her tail, getting a protesting shriek from the owner. "Don't tease Leafkit!"

Goldenleaf, a fellow queen, smacked them both with her tail. "Shush! Everyone can hear you!"

They crouched down. Stonekit looked up. "Sorry, Goldenleaf."

Patchkit snorted. "It's the truth."

The entrance to the nursery rustled as Leafkit's half-brother peered in. "I pity the cat who has to mentor you, Patchkit."

"Hey!" Patchkit fluffed up her fur. "That's not nice!"

Jaywing snorted and nuzzled his half-sister. "Sheesh, you're touchy today."

Owlclaw looked up from her grooming of Leafkit for a moment. "Apprentice ceremony."

Leafkit leaped away. "Freedom!"

Her mother sighed. "And there goes my hard work."

Chuckling, Jaywing licked Leafkit's head. "Mom, she looks fine. Are you excited, Leafkit?"

She wriggled happily. "I'm gonna be a medicine cat!"

A flash of sadness appeared in her brother's eyes. He knew the truth. Leafkit, as much as she wanted to be a medicine cat, could never be one. He had been with Roseclaw, ThunderClan's medicine cat, at Leafkit's birth. The two knew that the kits were half-Clan.

Owlclaw looked outside. "It's starting!"

Jaywing stood aside to let the soon-to-be apprentices out. He looked at his mother with pure sadness in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell them?"

Owlclaw sighed. "They are ignorant, and in ignorance is innocence. They will not be punished for my infidelity."

He considered. "I'm not sure it's really called that-"

"You know what I mean!"

_Meanwhile, outside..._

Lilystar leaped up onto the Highledge. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a clan meeting!"

Patchkit squeaked happily. "It's time! We get to be apprentices!"

Leafkit slapped her tail across her sister's mouth. "Shush! Lilystar's talking!"

The trio of kits stared at the leader with admiration in their eyes. "Wow!" Stonekit's eyes were practically bugging from his head. "Lilystar's tall!"

Said leader began the ceremony. "We are here to celebrate one of the most important events in a cat's life: the ascent to being an apprentice. Patchkit, step forward."

The kit walked serenely forward.

Lilystar continued. "Patchkit,you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Patchpaw." She beckoned a brilliant ginger she-cat forward. "Emberfall**, **you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Sparrowflight, and you have shown yourself to be honest and brave. You will be the mentor of Patchpaw. I expect you to pass on all you know to her."

"Patchpaw! Patchpaw!" The Clan chanted as mentor and apprentice touched noses. Leafkit yowled it with them.

"Stonekit, come forward."

Leafkit's brother tripped forward, the cause of the quiet laughter rippling through the crowd.

Lilystar waited for silence. "Stonekit, you have reached the age of six moons. Until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Stonepaw."

The new apprentice looked thrilled.

"Thunderflash, you have been without an apprentice since Petalpaw was claimed by StarClan. Your courage and skill are essential to a warrior. You will mentor Stonepaw."

Thunderflash, a huge gold tabby tom, stretched forward to touch noses with his new apprentice. "May StarClan keep you safe."

Lilystar's tail raised into the air, beckoning for silence. The Clan quieted. "Leafkit. Please step forward."

Her mind spun as she bounced over.

Lilystar smiled down at her. "Leafkit. Though you wish for the honor of being a medicine cat, it will not be so."

Surprised whispers ran through the gathered cats. Leafkit was shocked. What did she mean, no?

Lilystar bowed her head. "You have reached the age of six moons. Until-"

"No!" Leafkit's fur bristled. "Why can't I be a medicine cat?"

The leader looked at her sympathetically. Leafkit felt small, but continued. "Why? Tell me! All cats of ThunderClan are equal. We have the same rights. Why can't I help my Clan?"

Lilystar was surprised. "But you will help your Clan!"

"No. I will not. This is not helping. To be a warrior is to be master of mutilation of fellow cats. I wish to heal, not wound." Her voice trembled. "But you wish for power, not happiness. We all know that, we just disregard it. I wish not for power, but knowledge. Why do the Clans hate one another? Don't tell me that we are naturally rivals. That may be true, but why did we become rivals? Why don't we simply live in peace?"

"Peace?" A huge tom rolled his eyes. "Listen to that! She wants peace!"

The Clan rumbled with laughter.

Leafkit trembled with rage. "Don't you see? All you want is power! You don't care about the well-being of our Clan! Why do cats matter? They do the fighting! I'm not deaf! I can hear the stories they tell of battles! You stand on the sidelines and watch. You watch as our Clan's blood is spilled. And for what? For power."

Lilystar hissed. "Be quiet, you stupid kit!"

Leafkit continued. "Why should I be quiet? I can speak my mind. ThunderClan used to be the most powerful and respected Clan. Now look at us. Look at our leader, yelling at a kit for speaking the truth! I am of ThunderClan! You can't stop me!"

Owlclaw sobbed. All eyes turned to her. She looked at her kits sadly. "I am sorry, my children." She closed her eyes. "You are not purely ThunderClan."

Patchpaw gasped. "No! We're ThunderClan, you're ThunderClan, Redstorm is ThunderClan-"

Redstorm interrupted her. "I am not your father."

The Clan gave a unified gasp of horror.

Lilystar stared down from the Highledge. "Is this true?"

Owlclaw bowed her head. She spoke in a whisper, barely loud enough for the Clan to hear. "...Yes."

Lilystar nodded. "Who is the father?" She waited for an answer. "Well? Who is he?"

Owlclaw shook her head. "I will not betray his secret."

"Weaselheart." Jaywing spoke it loudly. "Weaselheart of ShadowClan."

Owlclaw gasped and began to sob. "How? How did you find out?"

Jaywing looked at her coldly. "He and Patchpaw are identical."

Lilystar stared down at Owlclaw and her kits with fury in her eyes. "How dare you dirty our Clan with these... imperfections!" she spat.

The mother gasped.

"You have until sunrise to vacate ThunderClan territory. Leave!" Lilystar watched the family with bright blue eyes.

Owlclaw swept her kits to her. "...Come, my children. We go to your father's Clan now." Her whisper echoed around the hollow like a battle yowl. "We are unwanted here."

Leafkit threw herself through the entrance to camp, dashing away, her mother's cry following her. "Leafkit!"

Leafkit raced away. _I am half-Clan. I am impure. I am an imperfection. I do not deserve to exist. Will StarClan welcome half-Clan cats? _

There. The river. She jumped in, sinking immediately. The air in her lungs rushed out of her mouth, making bubbles in the fast-moving water. She tried to bite one, but couldn't move. She was tired... so tired...

Owlclaw raced after her kit and caught up with he in time for her to see Leafkit sink into the river. "NO! LEAFKIT!" She raced over and jumped in after her.

Sinking her teeth into Leafkit's scruff, Owlclaw swam back to shore. She nosed the still kit's side. "Leafkit? Oh, please wake up!"

A voice whispered in her ear. _"Oh, I wish it didn't have to be this way, Owlclaw."_

Owlclaw looked up. "Nightbreeze?"

A ghostly black pelt rubbed against hers. The StarClan cat looked fit and young, instead of the scrawny elder Owlclaw had known. Stardust glimmered on the ground behind her. _"It is me, child."_

"No. You can't take her away. She's mine."

_"Mother... I've already gone."_

"No... You're alive, Leafkit, you're alive! Stay!" Owlclaw broke down, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Stay with me..."

_ "I can't. My spirit doesn't belong in my body anymore, Mother. I wish I could stay with you, I truly do! But I can't."_

Owlclaw nuzzled the spirit. "Please... stay..."

_"It's okay, Mother. We'll meet again some day."_

The two cats padded off, stardust sparkling in their wakes.

**Okay. You like, people? Review, please!**


End file.
